Editor’s note: this story was updated Thursday, June 26, to include details of a new lawsuit filed against the county.
By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle
The Lincoln County district attorney’s husband who has been at the center of a months-long personnel dispute with county officials was dismissed from his job last week as a legal assistant in the district attorney’s office.
County officials confirmed Monday that the last day in the office for Orrin Wallace, who had been a detective in the office from 2023-24, was Friday, June 20. Neither the county nor Orrin Wallace, on the advice of his attorney, would detail why.
The dismissal follows a May 23 lawsuit seeking $3.3 million in damages that Wallace and two other former county employees, Suzanne O’Toole and Ellen Branford, filed against the county, human resources director David Collier and parole and probation director Tony Campa.
Branford was the executive chief for former district attorney Lanee Danforth and current district attorney Jenna Wallace until May 12 when Collier fired her. O’Toole was a longtime parole and probation employee and juvenile department director until she was dismissed April 24.
In the lawsuit, they are alleging retaliation, age and marital status discrimination, defamation, wrongful discharge and a host of other allegations. The 63-page complaint alleges a pattern of discrimination, workplace hostility, unlawful employment practices and “sham investigations.”
County officials said Thursday they would not comment about ongoing litigation.
Orrin Wallace’s dismissal last week came after months of conflict between Jenna Wallace and Collier, county counsel Kristin Yuille, and commissioner Claire Hall.
Over several public meetings and news releases, Jenna Wallace alleged misconduct, retaliation and a refusal to order an outside investigation of Yuille and Collier. In response, Hall sent an opposing message that Jenna Wallace was retaliating after the county reported her behavior to two state agencies.
Much of the dispute stems from Wallace’s efforts to employ her husband as a detective in her office. But, county officials have repeatedly indicated that Orrin Wallace was not qualified to fulfill higher-level investigatory jobs.
In 2020, he resigned from the Coquille Police Department as part of a settlement agreement with the city after he was untruthful during an investigation into his conduct over inflammatory conversations with a Coquille budget committee member and attempts to undermine the city and its police department. That triggered a state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training staff investigation that determined his conduct violated the board’s moral fitness standards. But in July 2021, the board’s police policy committee voted 11-2 to not revoke Wallace’s state certifications saying there were mitigating circumstances with Wallace and a culture of dysfunction in the Coquille department.
Danforth hired Jenna Wallace in March 2022 as a deputy district attorney and hired Orrin Wallace in August 2023 to fill a detective position. Danforth later resigned rather than seek re-election and Jenna Wallace won the May 2024 primary race and was appointed by Gov. Tina Kotek as the district attorney months later. She declared a conflict of interest and named other staff members to oversee her husband’s work.
But Orrin Wallace was laid off last September when a grant expired and began working as a legal assistant in the district attorney’s office. When a detective position later became open, Wallace applied but was not selected. In January, the head of the county employee’s union informed the human resources department that Wallace was performing detective duties. That same month, Jenna Wallace appealed Collier’s decision denying a union request to have her husband return to the detective position and another employee to a legal assistant’s job.
Contention between Jenna and Orrin Wallace, department heads, staff and county leaders boiled over in several county commission meetings. As staff aired grievances, commissioners considered limiting public comment to only include topics on the agenda.
On Monday, county officials would only say that Orrin Wallace’s last day of employment was Friday. Orrin Wallace confirmed to the Lincoln Chronicle that he was terminated but was instructed by his attorney not to comment.
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
I voted for Claire Hall and I regret it. At the time, i didn’t realize she appears to have created a little fiefdom that includes the county counsel and the HR head and likely others. This group seems to be acting as the shadow country commissioners. They work as a unit to stop any action they don’t like. They ignore the people’s votes and harass, harangue and shut out those with differing views. Time for a clean sweep in Lincoln County. Replace Claire Hall, Ms Yuille and the HR head with people who care more about the country than their own power.
Agreed. The people are tired of these individuals.
Your perspective is incorrect. The DA tries repeatedly to improperly hire her husband, a cop with a documented background of improper behavior including lying, without going through proper procedures. The county commissioners, the county counsel and the HR department are doing their jobs properly by fighting blatant nepotism and upholding proper personnel rules. You want to fire them for that? Sorry, but the right person just got fired. Now voters need to fire his wife, who distorted crime figures and exploited cold case victim family members in an disreputable attempt to get her way.
Lee, you could not be more wrong. Orrin Wallace was already working as the DA Detective when Jenna Wallace was appointed DA. Orrin Wallace served the DA’s office with integrity and we were very happy to work with him.
Bravo Lee! Many of us agree 1,000 percent.
I have worked as a volunteer in the Lincoln County District Attorney’s office for 16 years. In that time, I have worked for six different District Attorneys. Jenna Wallace is everything Lincoln County could ask for in a District Attorney. We are so lucky that she chose to run for office. She is a wicked smart prosecutor, she is ethical, and she is one of the hardest working people I know.
I feel privileged to have worked with both Jenna and her husband, Orrin Wallace. Orrin Wallace, as the DA Detective, led our cold case team with integrity, hard work, and intelligence. To say that Orrin was not qualified to work high level investigatory jobs is idiotic. He held that position for over a year and was only bumped out of it when the county lost a grant and the Human Resources department allowed a part time detective to bump Orrin out of his detective’s position.
If you are in fact a current employee of the Lincoln County, you are undermining and discrediting your own statements by speaking them in an online forum.
How about someone who cares and volunteered to do the work?
This meets the entirety of why we should have elected a local hard working, educated, very professional, promising, ethical — not just for the elite status reputation nor the pay — but for the amazing woman that Kathryn Benfield truly is. For our community, for due respect to the laws, for our families and most of all because this county owes her more than that in my eyes. I had just gotten back when elections happened and thought for sure our county had the brains and could see what she has given. Which is her whole life to Lincoln county. But the turnout was blinded by this younger transplant. It truly is a shame that we let her down. So who can we trust? My hats off to you once again, Lincoln County! Ms. Benfield, we truly owe you an apology.
Sincerely, Jesse Anderson